Magic and the Power of the Moon
by kutnerlove
Summary: George needs a date to the Yule Ball and when the perfect girl turns up and starts to catch his attentions and affections,Fred gets a little jealous.How will George find a balance between his own interests and being loyal 2 his best friend & twin?
1. Sparks Fly

Magic and the Power of the Moon

With the Yule Ball approaching, George was hard pressed to find a date. His twin, Fred had already acquired the company of Angelina Johnson for the occasion and he was left to his own fate of asking a girl before 'all the good ones are gone' as Ron would put it. He had always been the less flirty of the twins and felt a little anxious about the whole experience. Of course he could talk to girls, just not in a romantic capacity. If Fred ever found out that he was worried about asking a girl out, he would never live it down, so he swallowed his fear and began scouting out prospective dates.

Katie Bell was a possibility, he realized at dinner, looking over the blonde as he ate his pudding. She was on the quidditch team and likable enough, but George just couldn't see himself trying to have a serious date with her. He wanted someone who could possibly turn out to be a bit of a long term go, so Katie was out of the question. Alicia Spinnet was already going with Wood, not that he would have asked her, so the entire team was out of the question.

He sighed, walking back to the common room, Fred having moved off of the familiar trek to the seventh floor to get some excitement out of Angelina. As he made his way through the common room, waving to a few people and greeting a few more, he went over the list of girls that he knew mentally. All of the girls from Slytherin were out. He wanted nothing to do with slimy sluts who thought that they were better than everyone else. Luna Lovegood was slightly bonkers. He had observed Lavender Brown as Ron had courted her. Hermione probably wanted to go with Ron. Hannah Abbott was a bit too girly and blushy, probably expecting Shakespeare and roses. There were a few Hufflepuff girls that were good looking and prospects, but George didn't really know how to approach them. A few Ravenclaws were pretty, but George couldn't tell if they were all about books and order. He flopped down onto his bed, waiting for an epiphany as to who would be a good match.

George was surprised when, a few days after he had been abandoned by his twin in favor of foreplay and resigned to wallow in self-pity for not being able to find a date, a perfect prospect appeared before him. She was curvy and dirty blonde, with dark eyes and an aura that made George believe Trelawny might not be completely insane. He had walked out of his Charms class to find her waiting for him. He recognized her instantly as one of the higher up prospects from Ravenclaw who sometimes joined his group at parties.

"My name is Mary Mounts," she told him. "And I'd like to ask you to be my date for the Yule Ball."

"Mary Mounts…I'm George..."

"I know who you are, obviously," She said with a small smile. "We haven't really talked, but I've seen you around."

"Right. Erm…I'd love to go to the Yule Ball with you," he said, relieved that someone had taken the pressure off of him.

"Great." Her eyes lit up and he promised himself that he would try to make her happy more often.

"Are you going to dinner?" he asked.

"Yes. But I'm in Ravenclaw…"

"I know. Skive off dinner and come with me. I'd like to get to know you," he offered, pulling some of the Gryffindor courage up from the pit of his quaking stomach.

The thought for a moment and then smiled. "Alright." He led her to an alcove on the third floor after making a quick trip to the kitchens to grab some food. They settled down, each with a bit of treacle tart and a butter beer and George looked her over. "I've been meaning to introduce myself for ages…I'm a bit shy normally," she admitted.

George grinned. "You don't seem shy at the moment."

"My friend Velvet gave me a dose of some potion that was designed to give you a bit of confidence," she admitted with a hint of a blush.

"Well, Mary, you've certainly made my day. I hope that you'll stop being shy around me now." He winked. "You're in my year, yeah?"

"Right. We have double History of Magic together, but it's dreadfully boring so I try to stay in the back where Binns can't see me."

"I mostly skive off…Fred hates it as well."

"Understandably."

"So where are you from?" he asked her, studying her expressions.

"Virginia Water, Runnymede, Surrey. Small place, but I love it."

"Really? I'm at Ottery St. Catchpole."

She smiled at him. "I assume that you want to be a prankster when you grow up…or when you leave school that is."

"I've been a prankster since before I was born," he told her, "why stop just because I have to get a real job? Really though, Fred and I are serious about providing entertainment to the masses. We're working on opening a joke shop. Inventing things and the like."

"I'm sure you'll do exceptionally well," she said, looking him over with another of her bright smiles.

"And what are your plans? They've surely asked you to start thinking about it."

"I want to be a journalist. I think I could give Rita Skeeter a run for her money."

"I would definitely say you could do that. The old hag is a liar and a second rate writer."

"I couldn't agree more," she told him.

He looked her over. "How did I not meet you before. Obviously we've seen each other around, but we really should have been getting to know each other. You're a very interesting person."

"Thank you. I suppose I should have come out of my shell earlier."

"I'm just glad you decided to come out of it now," he told her. "Please do stay out of it." Fred came up behind them with a sappy look on his face.

"Do the two of you have something to tell me?" he asked with a naughty smile.

"Fred. This is Mary Mounts. She's going to be my date to the Yule Ball," George told his brother.

"Good choice," Fred said looking her over. "I'm sure Mum would approve."

"Nice to meet you too," she said to Fred.

"Oh, she speaks. I didn't know that."

"Don't be a git, Fred," George instructed. "Sorry," he said to Mary.

"Right. Well the git has Quidditch practice…and so do you. Ta for now, lovey!" Fred wiggled his fingers at Mary and trotted off in the direction of the stairs. George stood.

"I'm sorry about that. I do have to go, though. I'll talk to you later!"

"Alright," she replied. She waited until he walked off to gather up the remnants of their dinner and deposit them into the trash on her way to the Ravenclaw common room. She was very happy to have successfully asked out George Weasley.

"Are you opposed to me dating Mary?" George asked his twin as they made their way down to the changing rooms.

"No. I just didn't know how to handle the man I thought I knew talking sappy with some girl!" Fred told him.

"I was not being sappy."

"'Please do stay out of your shell!'" Fred mimicked his brother saying.

"She's shy."

"You're a git."

"You never know. Wood says all the shy ones are more interesting any way," George told Fred with a grin.

"You'd better hope so. You're lucky I don't want to sully our reputations with your sap or the entire family would know…" Fred shook his head. "I really hope my brother isn't turning into a love struck ninny."

"I'll show you ninny," George threatened, getting onto broom on the field. "You'll be love struck long before I will, brother."

Fred laughed. "Never!" With that, the two took to the skies, dive bombing each other and thoroughly annoying Angelina until she called the practice off short since no one was willing to work.


	2. The Charming Mr Weasley

The Charming Mr. Weasley

A week after George found his date to the Yule Ball he found himself becoming more and more attracted to her. He began seeing her after dinner while Fred was chatting up Angelina and trying to convince Lee to get a tattoo of a dragon on his face. The more he knew about Mary Mounts, the more George wanted to know. He found out that she was a pureblood witch who was related to the blacks by her mother and to the most powerful American Wizarding family by her father. She was nothing like the Black side of her heritage, however. She detested the idea that some people were better than others because of their families and he whole-heartedly agreed.

George loved the light spattering of freckles that covered her pale face after she had been out in the sun for a while. He liked the way she bit her bottom lip when she was thinking about something and the way her eyes lit up when the way her eyes flashed when she was interested in something. He liked her smile and her personality and her looks and everything else about her and decided that she was indeed the perfect match for him. She had a good sense of humor and after getting used to talking freely with him, only blushed when he said something particularly naughty.

Fred began to suspect that something was going on between the two when he stumbled across the two again during dinner talking together on top of the Astronomy tower. "I suppose I'll have to keep an eye on you if you keep sneaking around like this," he told his brother. "Do you really like her?"

"Yes, Fred. I think I do."

Fred sighed. "But she's so quiet. And…you're just not. I don't see how it would work out," he told George.

"Well I suppose I'll have to find a way to make it work out," came George's reply. They were a little more aggressive during practice, not that Angelina minded, and didn't crack their usual jokes while the team showered. Harry didn't notice, neither did Wood fortunately. Apparently both had other things on their minds. Fred didn't look at his brother much on the walk back up to the castle and George couldn't help but be relieved. He didn't want to be awful to his own twin, but Fred was acting very strangely.

Two days before the Yule Ball Fred was stomping around the dormitory and George finally relented and asked him what the problem was. "You and you're bloody girlfriend," Fred replied.

"What do you mean? What are we doing that offends you?" George demanded, annoyed that Fred still hadn't accepted that he liked Mary.

"You spend all your time with her now-a-days and our relationship is suffering for it."

"What?!?" George was flabbergasted. "The only time I see her is while you're off snogging Angelina and occasionally at dinner."

"Dinner is my time," Fred said.

"Your time?"

"Yes. You're going to have to make time for me and set aside time for her if you want to keep her as a girlfriend. I won't have it affecting our business."

"Fred, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you fancying a bloody nun, George! Why aren't you going to the ball with Katie or summat?"

"Well it's because Mary is my girlfriend," George replied. "I don't think she'd like it very well if I took some other girl to the ball while I was dating her."

"Then stop seeing her."

"Fred, this doesn't even make sense. Why do you hate her?"

"I don't hate her," Fred tried. Flopping onto his bed. "I just think you would be better suited to a more…exciting girl."

"You don't even know her," George pointed out. "You don't know that she's not exciting."

"She reads for fun. It's like you shacking up with Hermione," Fred said, scandalized.

"Hermione is not as attractive as Mary."

"Well she's still a bookworm. What do you talk about anyway? Dusty old textbooks and classes?"

"She's not as interested in classes as Hermione either. You should really talk to her before you jump in and tell me she's bland."

"George, why do I want to talk to a future librarian?"

"Look. You need to realize that I can date who I want. There are a few things that you should know. Number one, she is very interesting and not a future librarian. Number two, just because she writes doesn't make her boring. And Three, she's actually really interesting, and pretty, and I think you'd like her if you had ever actually talked to her."

"I would have if she wasn't so shy," Fred replied. "She's practically anti-social."

"That's not true and you know it."

"Loony Lovegood and some other boring girls from Ravenclaw do not count as interesting people," Fred said.

George was growing impatient with his brother's tirade. "Look. You can meet her and find out for yourself that she's not half bad at the ball. I'm taking her, whether you like it or not." With that, George left the dormitories. He needed a walk on the grounds to clear his head. He couldn't understand why his brother…his twin and best friend…would be so harsh about the only girl that he had been really interested in.

The morning of the Yule Ball dawned bright and early for Hogwarts. Students were rushing around, preparing for the big night and teachers were putting together the final preparations for the ball as well. George didn't even see Fred when he climbed out of bed. Apparently Fred had gotten up early and had gone off to get ready to dance the night away. George sighed as he took breakfast, hoping that his brother would soon realize what an idiot he was being in regard to Mary.


	3. Family and the Christmas Spirit

Family and the Christmas Spirit

George stepped out of the bathroom he shared with George, Lee Jordan, Corey Crew, and Jason Pine a towel still wrapped around his waist. The others had all gone down to the Great Hall to await the start of the ball already. He was a little disappointed that Fred hadn't waited for him, but mentally shook himself. He knew that Fred would do whatever it was he felt like doing, as he had always done, and that Fred's mind would have to change on his own for any progress to be had so he focused on the upcoming night with the girl that he was quickly falling for.

He dried himself off, tossed the towel onto Lee's bed and pulled out his dress robes. Once he had gotten dressed he took his wand and the small corsage he had gotten for Mary and left Gryffindor tower. Mary had opted to meet him in the Great Hall instead of having him come 'round to get her, which he was a little relieved about. He didn't want all the girls of Ravenclaw to by elbowing to see him, George Weasley, take one of their fellow intellectually inclined housemates to the ball.

He searched the crowd as he descended the stairs. Harry and Ron were already lined up with Parvati and Padma Patil and George could tell from his brother's face that Hermione was already lined up with Viktor Krum. George couldn't help but smirk to himself as he watched Ron glare at the quidditch star. "That's what he gets for not asking her," George said quietly as he continued looking over the excited faces of the assembled students. He spotted Neville and Ginny in the corner and quirked one eyebrow. Not having seen his date he wandered over to where his younger sister was chatting with hers.

"'Lo Gin. Neville."

"Hello," Neville replied, looking nervous.

"Hey George. Where's Fred? I expected the two of you to show up together in a puff of orange smoke or something like that," Ginny said.

"He's with Angelina," George guessed. "And sometimes the surprise is that there is no surprise."

"There's always a surprise with you two," Ginny muttered.

"You have no idea," George said under his breath.

"What?"

"Oh. Nothing. Have you seen Mary Mounts?" George asked.

"No. Is that your date? She's very nice. A bit quiet for you, though, I would think," Neville told George.

Ginny waved her date's comments off. "You're here with her? Good. I haven't seen her though. You lost her already?"

"I haven't found her yet. We're meeting here."

"Ah. Well I suppose you don't have to look any longer now," Ginny told him, inclining her head toward the staircase. George turned around to see Mary adorned in a silky looking, form fitting turquoise gown. It swirled around her legs as she walked and dipped down between her breasts to give him a nice peek at her cleavage. Her hair was piled on top of her head in gentle ringlets and she had put on a little more makeup than normal. George was very pleased.

"Excuse me, I've got a girl to claim before some other bloke snags her," he told his sister and Neville. George pushed his way through the crowd until he got to where Mary was standing at the bottom of the stair case chatting with Luna Lovegood who was with Dean Thomas. "Hello," he greeted her companions before turning his attentions to her completely. "You look amazing," he told her.

"Thank you," she replied blushing a bit through her smile. "You clean up pretty well yourself."

He grinned. Then remembering the corsage pulled it out of his robes. "I thought you might like this," he said offering it to her.

"Thank you, George, it's lovely." She took the small white flower out of the case and slipped the ribbon over her wrist. "Would you mind tying it?" George was more than happy to oblige. Soon after George finished placing the flower on Mary's wrist the doors opened and the Triwizard Champions and their dates paraded into the Great Hall. George took Mary's hand and they moved with the throng into the hall as well.

The Great Hall was decorated beautifully and the ceiling reflected the perfect starry sky outside. People were gathering at tables to await the speech by Dumbledore and George settled into a chair beside Mary. They were joined a moment later by Angelina and Fred, much to George's surprise. The boys nodded to each other and Angelina, dressed up quite nicely in a light pink cocktail dress greeted Mary warmly. They exchanged compliments and George studied Fred's face. It was rare when he couldn't read the expression that Fred was putting forth, but much to his dismay this just happened to be one of those times.

The boys didn't talk much until after the champions and their dates began the first dance. The crowd clapped, happy to see the celebrations and Fred made a comment about Harry looking like an uncomfortable penguin with Parvati in his arms. George laughed and had to agree and the tension seemed to be broken.

The two couples joined the others pouring on to the dance floor as the Weird Sisters began playing their first set. The night was very enjoyable and things were back to the way they had been before George had started seeing Mary. Fred even carried out a conversation with her while George obliged Angelina with a dance. George was very pleased with the way things were going.

When the Great Hall was cleared out, Fred disappeared with Angelina and George walked Mary up to the Ravenclaw common room. He paused in the hallway before the one that held the sleeping area for Ravenclaws and pulled her face up to look at his. "Tonight was great!" he told her. "I hope you had as much fun as I did."

"Merlin, yes! Thank you for escorting me," She replied. He bent down and brushed his lips gently over hers. Then he pressed them to hers a little more. And then they were kissing gently, her arms wrapped around his shoulders and his around her waist. He traced her lips with his tongue and was pleasantly surprised when she parted them slightly, along him entrance. The two broke apart after a few moments to breathe and a faint blush spread across her cheeks.

"I like you a lot, Mary," George told her softly.

"I like you too."

He kissed her softly again, then took her hand, interlacing his fingers with hers and walked her the rest of the way to the opening of her common room. "Tomorrow's Sunday so I don't have quidditch practice. Would you like to do something with me?" he asked her as the stopped before the entrance.

"I would like that a lot," she said with a smile. They shared another soft kiss and she slipped away. George's head was reeling. He was very happy with the evening. He hummed a tune, slightly off pitch, all the way up to Gryffindor Tower.


	4. A New Beginning, A New Year

A New Beginning, a New Year

Fred was not exceptionally happy when George told him that they would not be spending the entire day together. "I'm going to hang out with Mary for a while after lunch," he told his twin with a grin.

"We were supposed to work on product testing today!" Fred protested. "Can't you see her some other time? Like when I'm seeing Angie?"

"Fred it's not all about your schedule," George said calmly. "I'd like to see her for a while before we all go home for the holidays."

"Annnngh! This girl is way too needy! Why does she have to see you every day?"

"Fred, you git, I want to see her!"

"WHY? You have yet to tell me why. Are you at least getting any action?"

"No. Fred, just…stop. We're together because we like each other…not because we want to shag like rabbits. I like her."

"WHY?!?!" Fred yelled.

"Because she's a change from everything I've ever known or done. I don't want some overly obnoxious, loud, combative bird who won't let me be. You and I are so damned loud we don't need girls who want to match us explosion for spark!" George announced. "She is interesting and funny and sexy as hell, but she doesn't have to be obvious about it. I like that."

"Wow." Fred looked astounded. "You don't like the way things are? You don't want girls who like the way things are?"

"No…that's not what I'm saying."

"Do you want to change?" Fred demanded.

"NO. I just want something in my life to be a little bit stable. And she might be that stability while being the other things that I would look for in a mate."

"Are you even in love with her?"

"No. But I'm pretty sure I'm on the way there," George admitted. Fred was dumbfounded. He nodded in response after a few moments and George breathed, relieved. "Look. I don't want anything to change, but I want her. Nothing else has to change."

"It just sort of feels like you're abandoning what we are," Fred told him.

"I am not abandoning anything. I've had brilliant ideas, but you've been too annoyed with me to hear me out. I want us to do the same things we've been doing…we'll you know what I mean…the same kinds of things. She's my girlfriend, though and you'll have to accept her too."

Fred sighed heavily. "Just don't get mushy around me and I suppose I can learn to like her…" he trailed off.

George snorted. "Me? Mushy? You're talking to your twin, not Percy or Ron."

Fred grinned. "You're right."

"So I'll bring her here and we can get her to test some products," George offered a compromise.

Fred laughed. "It might do her some good to get a taste of the Weasley twins," he said, thinking of how she would most likely react to their antics. "Let's do it! I think I like her already…"


End file.
